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Monday, December 03, 2012

Afghanistan Returns to the Air on Shortwave-Off Site Relays

In our progressive series of topics on
the radio broadcasting scene in the west Asian country of Afghanistan, we come
to the era of attempted renovation and rebuilding, somewhere around 10 years
ago.Many aid organizations poured in
with supplies and personnel in an attempt to resuscitate the damaged country
and its wounded people.

Equally
foremost among these many endeavors was the attempt to rebuild the national
broadcasting system throughout the country.Facilities damaged and destroyed and almost non-existent were rebuilt,
new equipment was brought in, the beginnings of a revived radio system was
implemented, and numerous organizations began radio broadcasts into Afghanistan
from many different external locations.

In
this edition of Wavescan, we investigate the story of the re-implementation of
shortwave broadcasting in Kabul Afghanistan; and in particular, the offsite
usage of shortwave relay stations in other countries.

The
English radioman who was stationed in Kabul around this era, the authoritative
Martin Hadlow, informs us that USAID installed a bevy of electronic equipment
in Kabul at this stage, so that Radio Afghanistan could be heard locally, and
so that relays of this programming could be beamed into Afghanistan from high
powered shortwave transmitters in other countries.

This
foreign aid included studio production equipment, as well as satellite uplink
facilities; and all of these significant radio endeavors were implemented
around May of the year 2002.At this
stage, Radio Afghanistan was on the air locally with:-

3
mediumwave transmitters rated at 200 watts, 10 kW & 50 kW

2 local FM transmitters

and
no shortwave transmitters.

Offsite
relays from Radio Afghanistan were carried by shortwave transmitters in four
different countries during the years 2002 & 2003.Initial test broadcasts with a satellite
relay from Kabul were transmitted over shortwave stations in Austria &
Russia around mid May 2002.

These
introductory test broadcasts began on May 13 and they ended three days later on
May 15.The New Zealand DX Times stated
that test broadcasts via Austria were carried by the 500 kW transmitter located
at Moosbrunn, out from Vienna, with its massive rotatable antenna system, on
17870 kHz from 1330 - 1430 UTC.

This
same test program relay was also on the air in parallel via a shortwave
transmitter somewhere in Russia, though the New Zealand DX Times does not
specify the actual location of this station nor the frequency in use at the
time.It is probable that these details
will never be known.

Preliminary
test broadcasts were also carried out from a 500 kW transmitter located at
Kvitsoy in Norway during this same time period towards the end of May.These test broadcasts were radiated
consecutively on 17525 kHz & 18920 kHz.

However,
when the regular relay of programming from Radio Afghanistan was on the air on
a daily basis, neither of the stations in Austria nor Russia were taken into
usage; instead these relays were noted on the air from Norway and the United
Arab Emirates.

This
new regular relay of programming from Radio Afghanistan commenced on June 1,
2002 and it was carried by the shortwave station at Kvitsoy in Norway on 18940
kHz, and by the shortwave station at Dhabbaya in the United Arab Emirates on
15420 kHz.A few weeks later, the
frequency for the Dhabbaya broadcasts was modified to 15485 kHz.Both transmitters, in Norway & in the
UAE, are rated at 500 kW.

During
the following year 2003, the World Radio TV Handbook listed the same two
shortwave channels for these shortwave relays on behalf of Radio
Afghanistan.However, one of the
European DX magazines noted at this stage that the morning service was on the
air from the United Arab Emirates; and the afternoon service, which was on the
air from Norway, was somewhat irregular.

It
would appear that these offsite relays on behalf of Radio Afghanistan were on
the air for a period of a little over a year.The available evidence would suggest that they were terminated at the
end of June 2003.

When
we take up the story of radio in Afghanistan again, we will draw attention to
the large number of shortwave stations and organizations that were on the air
with programming beamed into Afghanistan from numerous overseas countries.